Fall-rope carrier.



- PATENTED JAN. 1, 1 -907.- J.-G. DELANEY & A. LAMBERT.

7 FALL ROPE CARRIER. APILIUATION FILED MAR,22,1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 No. 840,443. PATENTED JAN. 1, 1907.

J. G. DELANKBIY & A. LAMBERT; FALL ROP-B OARRIER.

APPLIUATION FILED MAB. 22,1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

P A engages'the under side of the mam track or UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMESG. ZDELANEY AND ASHER LAMBERT, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

' FALL-ROPE-CARRIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan..1, 1907.

Original application filed' March 18, 1904, Serial No. 198, '76 8. Divided and this application filed March 22 1906. Serial No. 307.311.

To all whomifmay concern:

'Be it'known that we, JAMES G. DELANEY and ASHER LAMBERT, citizens ofthe United States, and residents of Newark, in the county of Essex and Stateof New Jersey,

have invented a new and Improved Fall- Rope Carrier, of which the following is afull,

clear, and exact descri tion.

This is a division 0' our application'filed 'March '18, 190'4,Serial 'No. 198,768.

This invention'relates to conveyers or cableways for hoisting and conveying.

The object of thisinvention'is'to provide a fall-rope carrier which is simpler and less liable to derangement than any heretofore known or used. In conveyers of this character it is desirable and necessary to support some or all of the flexible ropes employed from the main cable ortrack way, so as to prevent sagging and'interruption to the successful movementof the carrier, and so asto permit the raising andlowering of the load or ucket from the load-carriage at any point between the terminal stations. Each carrier is automatically movable at a predeterpropelling element, like a-grooved Wheel or ey. This wheel or element preferably cable and the upper side of the endless hau] rope. The track, the wheel, and the'haulrope are in one and the same vertical plane, and the resultant thrust of the haul-rope forcesthe single wheel into engagement with the main track. This steadies the carrier and revents Wobbling. 'With a grooved whee of any. given diameter the'rate of advance movement'is one-half the speed of the haul-rope. To secure an'increased speed of movement, the single wheel is provided with two peripheral contacts at different radial points. The haul-rope of smaller diameter than the main track'or cable engages the wheel at the shorter radial distance and the main cable engages the wheel at-the greater radial distance. To provide these two peripheral contacts, a deeper groove bisects the circumferential groove, and in this deeper groove the haul-rope of less. diameter enga es the peripheral ,contact at the shorter ra ial distance.

This'improvement also provides means to insurean effective yet a yielding engagement To attain this ob-.

of the propelling-wheel of the carrier between the haul-rope and the main cable, thus increasing the certainty of action and avoiding destructive strains on the cable and sheaves. This specification is a specific description of one form of the invention, while the claim is a definition of the actual scopethereof.

Reference is to 'be had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 shows in general elevation an overhead-conveyer system having these improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view of a cable-carrier. Fig. 3 is a corresponding end view thereof. Fig. 4 is a detail view showing one vmounting'for the traction-roller. Fig. 5 is an enlarged side view of a propelling-wheel having an increased speed of movement as compared with that shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 6 is an end view of the device shown in Fig. 5.

InFig. 1, 10 and 11, respectively, indicate the head and tail towers or supports for a .main track or cable 12.

The haul-rope or traverse-rope is shown at 14. It is, in effect,

endless .and has one or more turns round the winding-drum 15. The fall-rope 16, operated by the drum 17, supplies the means for raising and lowering the load with respect to the load-carriage 18. This fall-rope 16, as shown in Fig. 1, is fixed at one end 30'to the tail-tower 11. It passes over the carryingsheaves in the fall-rope carriers and over twosheaves 31 32 in theload-carriage, taking in a movable sheave 33'between the two sheaves 31 and32. The opposite end of the rope 16 passes round a small drum 17, driven by the engine. It results from this construction that a small drum 17 may be employed and that after a weight suspended on the sheave 33 is elevated the drum 17 may be locked at rest.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, the fall-rope carrier is constructed with a frame 19, which may be of any suitable material, preferably consisting of iron cheek-plates, between which pass the cable 12 and the lower run of the haul-rope 14. These cheek-plates are secured by angle-pieces 29 and each anglepiece held in position by a bolt. In thelower art of the rope-carrier is a sheave or guide 20 for the fall-rope 16, and mounted in the upperpart are two carrier-wheels 21 21, that run on the main cable 12 to support the rope-carrier. The haul-rope 14 runs over two sheaves 22 22, mounted in the frame and suitably spaced with respect to each other. The broad wheel-base, due to the location of the sheaves 21 21 in vertical planes separated a distance about equal to a diameter of the driving element 23, causes the carrier to maintain avertical position. This is rendered still more stable by the similar location of the sheaves 22 22.

the two pairs of sheaves 21 and 22 is such that the track-cable 12 is pinched between the sheaves 21 and the driving element. This all contributes to the stability of vertical position. Located within the frame of the rope-carrier is the free traction-roller, pulley, wheel, or driving member 23, which bears between the main cable on one side and the haul-rope on the other and lies in a vertical plane, in which are also the main track 12 and the haul-rope 14, engaging the wheel 23 at opposite ends of a diameter. The sheaves 21 and the sheaves 22 are also in the same plane'and serve to pinch the cable 12 and the haul-rope 14 into engagement with the'wheel 23. In the form shown in this Fig. 2 the Wheel 23 is free without pin or axle.

The form and disposition of the parts 12, 14, 20, 21, 22, and 23 are so regulated that both cables will bear tightly against the roller 23, the haul-rope being sprung or bowed slightly at the opposite sides of the traction-roller. This causes the actuating-rope (in this instance the haul-rope) to press the tractionroller upward against the main cable, and thus maintain a firm yet thoroughly elastic engagement between the parts 12 and 23 and 14 and 23. In effect the free'roller or wheel 23 is gripped between two cables. By this arrangement it will be seen that the parts are engaged with that firmness essential to the most successful operation of the carrier, as will be hereinafter fully set forth; but we avoid that unyielding contact heretofore involved in this class of apparatus which op erates to waste power by the excessive friction and to cause the working parts to quickly wear away, and we also avoid springcontacts. With this apparatus as the haulrope moves at a certain rate of speed it imparts a rotary movement to the tractionroller or driving member 23, causing the roller to run along the stationary main cable while the rope-carrier is advanced at a lower speed than that of the haul-rope 14.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the rope-carrier will run on the main cable at one-half the speed of the haul-rope, because the same diameter contacts with both the stationary cable 12 and moving rope 14. The rope-carrier will be made to shift its position along the main track following the shifting position of the load-carria e but at one-half the speed thereof. Fig. 2 s ows the roller simply as a floating element without pin or axle con- The position of. the rotary driving element 23 with respect to t radial perip fined endwise of the carrier by the bend of moving rope 14. In Fig. 4 wheel 23 is on a pin or axle 24, which plays in vertical slots 25, formed'in the cheek-plates constituting the frame of the carrier. This allows the traction-roller to yield vertically toward and from the cables 12 or 14, so as to assume a position insurin that uniform engagement between the ro lers and cable above explained. It leaves the roller free to move slightly upward, as this enables the haulrope to press the roller more effectively into frictional engagement with the main track 12. It is clear that by varying the relative 27, respectively, the peripheral contact 26 being on the shorter radius and the peripheral contact 27 being on the greater radius. The haul-rope 14 engages the shorter radial periphery 26, while the main cable 12 engages the longer radial periphery 27. The sheaves 20 21 22 are disposed the same as before described, and the action of the parts is the same except that by varying the radial distance of the peripheral contacts, as above explained, the speed is varied. In Fig. 5 openings 28 for the adjustment of the sheaves 22 are shown, as also in Fig. 2.

The traction-roller shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is best shown in detail in Fig. 6, the construction including the shorter radial periphery 26 between two annular flanges extending beyond the eriphery 26 to form the greater iiery 27. The haul-rope 14 being smaller than the main cable runs between these flange-like portions and bears on the periphery 26, while the main cable 12 runs upon the outer edges of the said flanges.

In connection with the invention as above described it is pointed out that the employment of a single propelling-wheel '23 provides for maintaining the elements 12, 14, and 23 in the same vertical plane and accurately balancing the rope-carrier thereon, thus avoiding the side lash or wobbling of the carrier, since the pressure between the parts is in the same plane and central of the carrier.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and details of this invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

Having thus described our invention, we

Wheel in said frame, an axle for said Wheel, a

vertically-elongated slot in each plate to receive said axle, a pair of Wheels journaled in said frame running on the upper side of the 10 track, a pair of Wheels journaled in said frame running on the under side of the haulrope, an axle for each of the. last-named Wheels and a series of perforations in the plates arranged in vertical lines.

JAMES G. DELANEY. ASHER LANEBERT.

Witnesses M. G. BENFER, M. F. MING. 

